Almost a year ago, we moved into our new home in a new residential area in Sungai Buloh, Selangor.

However, the phone lines were absent. We have contacted the developer about this issue and in an email he agreed to install the phone lines. Installation activity was witnessed and done but about a month later there has still been no follow-up from the developer.

So we have contacted the contractors in charge and one of them said they were not installing any phone lines but they were only inspecting the underground canals. Unfortunately they could not proceed with the rest of the installation due to the canals being blocked and the specifications do not meet Telekom Malaysia’s (TM) general requirements.

The developer should have said earlier that they were inspecting the underground lines and not installing the cables, which is a totally different statement.

To add insult to injury, the contractors accidentally broke the concrete slabs (that cover the drains) during the inspection at the back lane, and the developer allegedly refused to replace the slabs and claimed that the back lane is seldom utilised. As a result, one truck had got its wheel stuck in the drain due to a broken slab, and a lot of time has been wasted to remove the truck from the drain.

Another two to three months later, the telephone poles were erected. Some delays were inevitable as there were a few long weekends due to the public holidays, but most of the time the developer had allegedly failed to notify the TM engineers about the progress, which stalls the phone line installation further.

I am worried and concerned as the housing area has been without any phone line for more than a year. We have health problems and we need these phone lines for contacting the emergency services. Besides that, we are working individuals who need the Internet connection for performing our duties in work. One year without such services is not tolerable at all.

The worst part is, the absence of the phone lines has affected the resale value of the homes, and almost half of the residential area is still not occupied yet. Nobody will move into a home without a phone line. Selling the house would be too difficult if we wanted to relocate to someplace convenient.

Subscribing to a wireless broadband data plan is not a permanent solution as some of the residents are working in sales or engineering which requires a large amount of data during work.

My question is, how could the Certificate of Fitness (CF) be issued to the residential area without the phone lines? The authorities should have amended the rules to have mandatory installation of telecommunication lines before issuing the CF to the housing developers.

When we contacted other groups (both political and apolitical) about this issue, all of them told us to contact the developer. However, contacting the developer is a very big struggle. The developer had allegedly asked us to write a letter of complaint to them in the form of snail mail.

I hope the authorities put pressure and impose heavy fines on the housing developer which is extremely recalcitrant. It is the 21st century and almost close to the year 2020, like water and electricity, communication lines are mandatory.